Calgary native remains atop World Cup standings

Canada's Kaillie Humphries and rookie brakeman Chelsea Valois finished second in a World Cup bobsled event Friday in Innsbruck, Austria.

German bobsledder Sandra Kiriasis won her first women's World Cup in almost two years, earning her the European title.

Kiriasis and pusher Franziska Bertels finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 48.65 seconds to edge the Canadians by 0.01.

"It is frustrating when you lose by that close, but I made a mistake and that cost me time," said Humphries. "The positive is I have never done well here. I have come third, but last year was ninth so it can go either way."

The Calgary native and pusher Valois of Zenon Park, Sask., lost their first-run lead after a couple of mistakes in the final run. Jazmine Fenlator and Aja Evans of the United States came 0.05 back in third.

"I had a great first run, but I knew it would come down to consistency today and you just can't make mistakes especially in that part of the track," she said. "Now we head into Worlds and the World Cup in Russia which has been our focus all year. The pressure will build, but we are going to do what we've done all year. Chelsea and I look at each race individually and keep working hard and learning together."

Humphries won six of eight World Cups this season and leads the standings with 1,760 points, followed by Kiriasis with 1,573.

The bobsled World Cup at the 1976 Olympic track continues with a two-man competition on Saturday.